Come 16th of December and echo of the worst tragedy ever inflicted on Pakistan and Pakistani people can be heard in every think circle and media. Some feel grieved with thoughtful approach that if this was the destiny, couldn’t it be accomplished peacefully without the tinge of shame. Others simply sink into grief and mourning. But a good majority uses this day for the favorite blame game offering advises with illogical analysis of the event as to what should have been done to avoid the tragic event; something very easy when the event has passed and result known. Being myself a witness of event from Dacca itself, today I want to address those who enjoy briefing the event with sarcasm and calling our army a bunch of cowards. I could never understand our own people drawing enjoyment or gaining political mileage out of a tragedy and talking as if such an event has happened for the first time in history.
Last week I was talking to an Indian friend and certainly with the intention of teasing me, he described 16th December as the most shameful surrender in the history of warfare. He even claimed that such shameful surrender is totally inconceivable by the Indian army. I had no intention of ridiculing him, however quite politely I reminded him of even a more shameful endeavor by the Indian army. During 1962 war with China, after early reversals, Indian army dug in on Tsela Pass and shown to the local and foreign media of the heavy artillery and armour deployment with a boasting claim that the Chinese will not be allowed to advance one inch from their present deployment. However when Chinese, instead of attacking Indian defenses, started encircling Tse La Pass, Indian army retreated in shear panic and left all hardware behind and rushed to retreat in complete disarray. In my opinion the retreat from Tse La without fighting was a more shameful an act than surrendering in impossible situation. Indian army were connected to their main land and they had their air force intact which was superior to the Chinese air force. Pakistan army in spite on the other hand was disconnected from the main land, had an air force pathetically outnumbered in quantity as well as quality and with a hostile civilian population, was doomed from Day but still displayed some gallant display of air battle. I can’t recall the name of the British war analyst who had commented quote” I do not understand why so much is talked about the war in East Pakistan. Pakistani army had lost the battle even before it started. Even if Bonaparte was the commander of Pakistani army and a nine year old boy the commander of the Indian army, the result would be the same. Unquote.
Some of my Pakistani friends even argue that why Pakistani soldiers did not fight till death. In fact our politicians use the terms “until the last drop of my blood” or “ until last man last bullet” in their fiery speeches that our naïve public consider this to be true to the honor of a nation. But if you look into the history of battles, we find that at many cases, where is was no longer possible for an army to fight, the commander decided to withdraw or was forced to surrender. Evacuation of Dunkirk did not make British soldiers bunch of cowards, nor has any war analyst called German Field Marshal Paulus a coward for his act of surrendering the German Sixth Army on the outskirts of Stalin Grad. In fact after the war was over, Charles De- Gaul when he visited the war zone on Volga, he praised the gallantry of the German Sixth Army. An individual soldier may decide between honorable death and shameful surrender by jumping bare hand over a tank, however a commander, when facing a doomed situation, he being the guardian of his troops cannot push his people to death only for the sake of pride. According to Craig Symonds, professor emeritus of history at the US Naval Academy said quote” the normal practice in the battle between Confederates and Union navies was to fight until you have 10 percent casualities, then you can honorably surrender” Unquote. Surrendering under extreme grim adversaries has seldom been considered an act of cowardice.
In order to fully understand the situation which demands ‘until the last man last bullet’ and tactical withdrawal situations, I would mention here two historical events in the life of Mustafa Kamal Pasha.
When Mustafa Kamal was defending the Gallipoli peninsula and commanding a small contingent as a flank of the main army under the command of German Genaral Otto Liman Von Sanders at Saros Bay where General Von Sanders expected the main attack.
When the attack came, it took some time for Mustafa Kamal to realize that he is facing the brunt of the main British and Australian assault. He sent message to Von Sanders and ordered his troops to hold the ground until last man last bullet unless troops under Von Sanders are committed to the battle. He fought so valiantly that he was often seen standing in front line braving the barrage of the bullets, in order to bolster the morale of his heavily outnumbered troops. Mustafa Kamal earned his respect as an able commander from this moment of ultimate test of nerve and gallantry. It was 455000 British, 79000 French and 50000 Australian and New Zealand troops against 315000 Ottoman troops resulting in 250000 casualties each side.
The same Mustafa Kamal, when battle in Arabian peninsula became doomed and he was appraised of the extreme grim situation, it is reported that he, after a thoughtful moment, pondering over map of the battlefield, removed the Turkish flags from the Arab land and pinned it deep into Turkish order. He ordered his troops to retreat quickly in order to avoid any clash with the advancing British troops, lest the Turkish fighting machine would totally be dismembered. Even General Von Sander had to admit that the decision was right from military point of view, but he himself would not have taken this decision because a fast retreat would throw the abandoned Turkish civilians on the wrath of the Arabs who were fuming with revenge. But the brave commander was focusing on his future plans as to when and how he is going to regain the honor of his nation; a commitment he so successfully achieved later. Had he pursued the theme ‘last man last bullet’ in Arab Land, it would have resulted in gruesome annihilation of his army.
It would be impertinent to call Mustafa Kamal Pasha a brave man in Gallipoli, a coward at the time of tactical withdrawal and again a brave gallant commander, when he pushed Greek army with such great pace much to surprise of the Greeks as well as the whole world.
As a civilian, I personally do not have much information about armies and their war strategies, however our armed forces should continue getting the message that whenever it comes for the defense of the nation, the people of Pakistan are solidly behind them. Adolf Hitler, in his autobiography; Mein Kampf, describes how astrike in ammunition factories in Germany during the First World War, sent the negative message to troops in combat that the nation was not behind them, and that was one of the many morale sagging factors. Regardless of some controversial actions by some commanders, in a grim situation like battle for Dacca, where many factors were working against the country, Pakistan armed forces will remain the pride of the nation and we must not afford to send negative messages to the soldiers and offices in uniform, just for the sake of free media.
Nations learn from their past mistakes and there is no harm in analyzing the reasons of the debacle in order to address the mistakes and shortcomings in the political, social and the military policies. Unfortunately Dacca debacle has its roots in all three domains. Pakistan armed forces (talking purely in combat and defense parameters) have never disappointed the nation ever since Dacca on the battle front and every Pakistani has drawn his and her share of pride out of it be it 1948 or 1965. During the Indian army deployment on our borders in 2002, Pakistani armed forces although heavily outnumbered and outgunned, stood bravely up to the expectations of the entire nation.
In 1973 an Indian war analyst (a retired vice admiral of the Indian navy) cautioned Indian armed forces not to make plans on 1971 scenario. He said quote” from Indian armed forces point of view 1971 was a dream of admirals and generals. Indian armed forces should set war plans on more realistic combat situations” unquote.
If few commanders have failed us, so have some politicians, judges and civil servants. Failure or misdeed of some individuals cannot be accepted as enough reasons to malign the whole organization.
It must however be noted that military takeover of the government is never welcomed and many problems in this country can be attributed towards these disruptions of democracy. However it is also imperative that our armed forces should be assured of unfettered support of the entire nation so long they work within the constitutional boundaries of their organizations. An army devoid of public support loses its cutting edge against the enemy and eventually entire nation pays the price.
M.Fakhar Mahmood
Electrical Engineer by profession and a witness of Dacca surrender